Timing of team’s discovery in cave was matter of luck: NYT

 

File photo : John Volanthen (right) walks with Richard William Stanton during rescue operation in Chiang Rai province recently. They are two of three UK cave divers who came to Thailand to help find the missing Mu Pa Academy football team.

 

The British diver found the 12 missing boys and their assistant coach trapped inside Tham Luang cave because he ran out of a guiding rope, forcing him to the water’s surface, according to The New York Times.

 

John Volanthen was placing guidelines in an attempt to get closer to the missing team in the flooded cave network when he found the boys.

 

As he came to the water’s surface, “there they were, all 13, staring at him through the light of his headlamp,” according to the Times.

 

If his line had been even 15 feet shorter, he would have turned back and not reached them on that Monday night dive. The group would have spent at least another night on its own in the pitch black, not knowing if a rescue would ever come.

 

“Literally, he finished his line, stuck the line reel in the mud, and they were looking down,” Vernon Unsworth, his friend and fellow cave explorer, said on Tuesday.

 

With the search officially turning to a rescue operation on Tuesday, the main questions now have been the best way, and the best time, to get the boys and their coach out of the cave.

 

The three British cave diving experts have been praised across Thailand and the world for using their expertise to aid in the discovery of the missing team trapped in one of the longest caves in Thailand after a flash flood hit their exit.

 

The mission was considered a mission impossible considering the fact that there were no detailed maps and the cave was under heavy floods.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30349280

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-07-04

Fortune favours the brave.

7 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

Fortune favours the brave.

They went for it and ALL involved were rewarded....

The Best Caving Divers in the World From UK! Fact


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The Brits got a bit lucky with the football result too ?

Edited July 4, 20188 yr by Topdoc

1 hour ago, webfact said:

The mission was considered a mission impossible considering the fact that there were no detailed maps and the cave was under heavy floods.

Didn't I read that a Brit had explored in there before and produced his own detailed map?

 

20 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

Didn't I read that a Brit had explored in there before and produced his own detailed map?

 

Yep, big Vern.

1 hour ago, markaoffy said:

The Best Caving Divers in the World From UK! Fact


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No need to gloat mate, sometimes you get a better result when you don't so o..

1 hour ago, Topdoc said:

The Brits got a bit lucky

Their history is replete with examples of victory being snatched from the jaws of failure. 

10 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

Their history is replete with examples of victory being snatched from the jaws of failure. 

So too, their history is completed with stories and news of snatching Defeat from the jaws of Victory.

Hope they can have a chance to watch World cup final....   

2 hours ago, Topdoc said:

The Brits got a bit lucky with the football result too ?

The harder you work, the luckier you get.

 

 

Exactly. 

dont forget this was not a 2-3 man job. 1000 people worked very hard for this outcome, and it would not have been possible without them all.

dont forget this was not a 2-3 man job. 1000 people worked very hard for this outcome, and it would not have been possible without them all.

Without this small specialist team its doubtful they would have been found so quickly

2 hours ago, Topdoc said:

The Brits got a bit lucky with the football result too ?

Britain or 'Brits' as you state is actually England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The football team you are referring to is England. I hazard a guess and would assume  you are from United States in North America. Fear not,  it's not uncommon for your breed to be so geographical ignorant. ?

Edited July 4, 20188 yr by SpeakeasyThai

Luck? How about skill. 

2 hours ago, Topdoc said:

The Brits got a bit lucky with the football result too ?

 

Playing another team of South American wrestlers whose luck ran out.

3 hours ago, webfact said:

If his line had been even 15 feet shorter, he would have turned back and not reached them on that Monday night dive. The group would have spent at least another night on its own in the pitch black, not knowing if a rescue would ever come.

If my grandma has the balls would be my grandpa!

Maybe we are all missing the underlying message here. Brits are masters of understatement. If the guy said he was lucky and just happened to run out of line. What he really means is that it could have been anyone in the team and it simply happened to be him. 

Edited July 4, 20188 yr by VocalNeal

3 hours ago, Topdoc said:

The Brits got a bit lucky with the football result too ?

Ah another clueless clever dick

23 minutes ago, SpeakeasyThai said:

Britain or 'Brits' as you state is actually England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The football team you are referring to is England. I hazard a guess and would assume  you are from United States in North America. Fear not,  it's not uncommon for your breed to be so geographical ignorant. ?

Ouch!

3 hours ago, markaoffy said:

The Best Caving Divers in the World From UK! Fact

That's not a fact, they did not do it on their own, they are just a small part of a big rescue team of equally proficient divers.

1 hour ago, scubascuba3 said:

1 hour ago, wanderluster said:

dont forget this was not a 2-3 man job. 1000 people worked very hard for this outcome, and it would not have been possible without them all.

Without this small specialist team its doubtful they would have been found so quickly

That's only your opinion based on nothing at all, the British divers are not a "small specialist team" they are two divers working with the rest of the huge team.

2 hours ago, jossthaifarang said:

No need to gloat mate, sometimes you get a better result when you don't so o..

Strange comment 

12 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

That's not a fact, they did not do it on their own, they are just a small part of a big rescue team of equally proficient divers.

These people where called in because they are the BEST why would you want or accept second best

44 minutes ago, SpeakeasyThai said:

Britain or 'Brits' as you state is actually England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The football team you are referring to is England. I hazard a guess and would assume  you are from United States in North America. Fear not,  it's not uncommon for your breed to be so geographical ignorant. ?

Really?  Pedantic doesn't even come close.  Who cares where they came from or what the UK is made up of; they were clearly brilliant at what they do and credit must be given to who identified them and got them here so quickly.  The lads are being rescued but let's save the real celebrations for when they surface.  

Who cares good luck or good planning it worked

25 minutes ago, jossthaifarang said:

Ouch!

Education no substitute for it, it trumps ignorance every time

4 minutes ago, Cranky said:

Really?  Pedantic doesn't even come close.  Who cares where they came from or what the UK is made up of; they were clearly brilliant at what they do and credit must be given to who identified them and got them here so quickly.  The lads are being rescued but let's save the real celebrations for when they surface.  

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Wrong football team my man

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